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Tag: Bode George

  • We’re tired of Bode George

    We’re tired of Bode George

    Some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youths marched on some streets in Badagry, Lagos, yesterday to protest what they called the leadership style of the former Chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Olabode George.

    There were similar protests in other parts of Lagos, with youths carrying placards and calling for the recognition of former Minister of State for  Defence Musiliu Obanikoro as PDP governorship candidate.

    The youths threatened to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), if the PDP refused to conduct another governorship primary and allowed  George and Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe slug it out next year.

    They described the party’s primary election in which Jimmy Agbaje was declared winner as a travesty and political manipulation.

    The protest coordinator, Olayinka Sotade, said the PDP should show good example by promoting internal democracy as against the manipulation and imposition allegedly orchestrated by a southwest leader of the party.

    He said whoever that will emerge as the party’s flagbearer must earn it honourably and not through electoral malpractice that favoured an unpopular candidate, who has no structure to deliver the state in next year’s elections.

    The National Coordinator of the Action Support for Democracy, Johnson Moses-Whenu, said it was obvious that PDP would  lose the 2015 election because George and Ogunlewe were playing “dirty politics”.

    He said he could mobilise 25,000 votes for the opposition, if the party leadership allowed imposition rather than giving  all aspirants a level playing field.

    Moses-Whenu recalled his experience during the governorship primaries, saying Obanikoro was rigged out by party leaders.

    “Ï was there and I saw what happened. Bode George came in with some armed thugs in a SURE-P vehicle. They were caught with 12 guns and nobody is talking about it.

    “When they brought those hoodlums, the attention of the delegates was diverted to allow them to rig.

    “The number of votes cast was more than the number of the delegates and that is an eyesore to our great party.

    “I am appealing to the party leadership to intervene in the crisis and allow a fresh primary in Lagos.

    “If they field any candidate without credible primary, PDP will fail in 2015.

    “We are tired of Bode George because he never considers other people in his sense of judgment.

    “This is a man who has never won any election in his life. President Goodluck Jonathan should intervene and call him to order.”

    The group’s spokesman, Athantopossi Jeremiah, said:  “For the benefit of our party, I want to appeal to the party leadership to intervene in the Lagos PDP crisis before it is too late.

    “Bode George is an old man and he cannot decide who will govern for the youth. We are old enough to take our destiny in our hands. Let him go and relax for now.”

    George had objected to Obanikoro’s governorship ambition, saying that it was borne out of desperation and extreme covetousness.

    He said his resignation, barely six months after his appointment, was unfair and annoying.

    The former PDP National Deputy Chairman also chided the former minister for peddling falsehood about the circumstances surrounding his resignation.

  • Bode George lacks capacity to call for peace – Obanikoro

    Bode George lacks capacity to call for peace – Obanikoro

    Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has again lambasted the party’s southwest leader, Olabode George, describing him as one without capacity for peace.
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    Obanikoro, who is the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Lagos State, was responding to George’s call for peace following commotion that has engulfed the state chapter of the party after Monday’s governorship primaries in the state.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday, Obanikoro accused George of orchestrating the violence that marred the primaries, describing his call for peace as hypocritical.
    Obanikoro said, “Chief Bode George has no capacity for peace and unity in Lagos PDP when he is the major architect of violence and confusion in the first place.

    “His call for peace is a desperate attempt to get the attention of President Goodluck Jonathan to take him seriously as a responsible leader of Lagos PDP. Unfortunately, Bode George is a man far from anything responsible, peaceful or honourable.

    “His introduction of religious bias and sentiment into Lagos PDP by asking delegates to vote for a Christian, instead of a Muslim candidate, is dangerous for the peaceful cohesion of Lagos PDP and totally condemnable.

    “I warned Chief Bode George to steer clear of the electoral process and stand as an unbiased umpire but he opted for the path of dishonor and threw himself into the ring. The result is the sham of gubernatorial primaries that has subjected our party in Lagos State to an unprecedented public ridicule.‎

    “Where is Chief Bode George’s honor if after manipulating an election where 806 delegates produced 863 votes?

    “Now, he is calling for peace and unity.”

  • Bode George’s hyperbole

    There will be no end to the silly and infantile ascription of divinity to President Goodluck Jonathan, even from unexpected quarters. A few days ago, a mawkish and inebriated Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, former Governor of Bayelsa State, thinking himself deep and philosophical enough, advised Governor Rotimi Amaechi to grovel before the president in order to propitiate him and his wife. After God, cooed Chief Alamieyeseigha, the president is next, and must not be provoked. It was apparent that, given the way public officials in Nigeria genuflect before the president, governors and other elected officials, the cult of worship and the shrine of political idolatry are flourishing in these parts.

    Though it is admittedly not out of character, Bode George, the fawning and fantasising former governor and top PDP chieftain, has described the name of the president as divine. Goodluck, he concluded in a newspaper interview, was doubtless a divine name on account of the successful completion of the national conference. There are probably many more top politicians and elected governors and councillors who ascribe divinity to their bosses, and consequently plant and water heretical thoughts in their leaders’ minds. There is apparently no telling just how low Nigerians will sink in subjugating themselves, or how far they will go in encouraging their leaders to act like God.

  • ‘Bode George is a drowning man’

    The Ekiti State government has condemned Chief Olabode George’s statement that Governor Kayode Fayemi “lost” the June 21 governorship election because he did not pay workers’ salaries.

    The statement was credited to George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and published by a national newspaper on July 30.

    In a statement, the government said: “While it may be needless to join issues with the ex-naval chief, who is fast becoming a drowning man and a failed politician, there is need to set the records straight and tell the world that the Ekiti State government, under Fayemi, has in the last three-and-a-half years been responsive to the yearnings of civil servants and Ekiti residents.

    “It is on record that the Ekiti State government pays workers’ salaries and allowances before the end of the month and has statutorily done this without failing since its inception in October, 2010.

    “Besides this, the government has increased workers’ salaries and allowances twice without pressure. Teachers enjoy a relatively higher pay than their counterparts in any part of Nigeria because of the 20 per cent Rural Allowance and 20 per cent Core Subjects Allowance introduced by the Fayemi administration, as well as the 27.5 Teachers Pecuniary Allowance.

    “To achieve a consistent and hitch-free payment system, the government introduced the bio-metric data capturing scheme that enables workers to get paid on the same day, thus enabling them to receive salaries and allowances much earlier than their colleagues in most states.

    “Many analysts and political commentators have adduced reasons for the controversial outcome of the June 21 election and not one of these analysts, except the myopic George, has attributed the result of the election to the purported failure of the labour-friendly government to pay workers salaries when due.

    “One  would have thought that the once highly respected chief ought to have matured with age, stature and status and analyse topical issues as a statesman, rather than seeing things from a parochially-partisan posture and platform, in view of the fact that he served the country in various capacities at both the state and national levels.

    “George is advised to reflect on his pepper soup and champagne days as the military governor of the old Ondo State, where he stood on the commonwealth of the state for years without initiating any meaningful project in Ekiti Division, which was an integral part of the then Ondo State, other than his famous statement that ‘the people would always remember that a Lagos boy once passed through the state’.

    “Notwithstanding the misinformation contained in the statement of the ex-naval chief on the Ekiti election, we are compelled to sympathise with him, as he is presently currying the favour of his paymasters in Abuja in order to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the main stream of the purported largest party, having crashed from the mountain top to the valley of power, during which he lost touch with the realities of time.”

  • Roli on the roll again

    Roli on the roll again

    FOR Roli Adeniyi-George, getting married to Chief Bode George has proved to be a well-thought-out adventure with numerous dividends. The newly-appointed Director-General of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) will be full of thanks that she jettisoned her former marriage and opted for PDP chieftain, Chief Olabode George.

    Apart from increasing the number of her children, her marriage to 69-year-old Bode George has seen her bag two federal appointments within three years. It will be recalled that in 2011, she was appointed as a member of the National Population Commission (NPC) representing Lagos State; an act that pitted the Lagos State Government against the Federal Government because the former claimed that it was not consulted before the appointment was made.

    Her appointment as Director-General of the NDLEA penultimate Thursday has also not been without some furore. Her latest appointment was believed to have been based on her being the wife of a prominent PDP chieftain than knowledge. But the position comes with as much challenges as the perks that accompany it. Whether Roli, who came into the limelight on the strength of her beauty as a model, has the mental, professional and psychological capacity to successfully run one of the most sensitive government agencies will be known in a matter of months.

  • Ekiti 2014: PDP demonic plans shall fail

    Ekiti 2014: PDP demonic plans shall fail

    Vote Fayose and turn this distinctively unique state into a plaything for not only President Jonathan and his Niger Delta boys but also the likes of Buruji Kashamu and Bode George

    For ten straight weeks on this column, I have done nothing else besides predicting, from what as a trained historian ,I know of its decade and a half stranglehold on Nigeria, what the PDP  would be up to in the run down to the Ekiti election which they, from Abuja to Otueke, see as the opening chapter of  President Goodluck Jonathan’s consuming 2015 ambition for which nothing is considered too sacrosanct  to give and that includes the very survival of Nigeria. I wrote about the role of the first lady in Fayose’s emergence, allegedly claiming  that he is the only one with the ‘craze’ to deal with a stubborn Ekiti people as well as the recruitment  of some ‘billionaire’ political jobbers both of  which accounted for the emergence of Fayose and Omisore as governorship candidates in Ekiti and Osun respectively. As a result of that imposition in Ekiti, 18 chieftains of the party, in an advertorial in THIS DAY of Wednesday June 11, 2014  disowned

    Fayose claiming that  with ‘his questionable antecedents, and for not possessing  the required temperament, disposition, and the capacity to deliver good government to Ekiti,  they cannot, in good conscience, work for him’.  Among them are Chief Ojo Falegan, Dr Bode Olowoporoku, Rt. Hon Kola Adefemi, Otunba Reuben Famuyibo, Ropo Adesanya, Chief Dapo Alibaloye, Sir Kayode Otitoju and Justice Edward Ojuolape (RTD)

    I interpreted the involvement of a Niger Delta militant, as coordinator of their  South West  security strategy, not only as a cheap sellout  of Yoruba people to a tiny Ijaw nation, but as the most direct evidence of their plan to import  Niger Delta  thugs.  Hundreds of such thugs were infiltrated into Ekiti on the occasion of the President’s visit on Saturday 7 June when he primarily came to commission the  war already  promised by his Vice.  Dozens  of them were  allegedly arrested by security operatives at Fayose’s Spotless Hotel  on June 10 as reported in the IROHIN ODUA edition of June 11, 2014.  On interrogation they claimed Fayose invited them for ‘strategic reasons’ as they were paraded with their  charms, arms and ammunition.  This is, of course, a mere tip of the iceberg, as the dangerous  Southwest PDP cabal, among them ministers, have promised to capture Ekiti. Here truly  must be the changed Fayose which Jonathan said he was presenting Ekiti  on Saturday, 7 June, and upon whose victory, which God forbid, he will now develop the state. Hogwash!

    President Jonathan on that day flagged off  another of his many wars as in  the  North East, Rivers, and  freshly,  Kano and  his Vice stayed behind to personally observe the commencement of  their  one-sided hostilities. Since it has become known that the likes of Yuguda were hankering after his job,  that  man of the permanent  overflowing babariga, would do just about anything to survive.

    Ekiti people did not have long to wait. With the intent to ‘shock and awe’, they started with the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who was tear gassed and shot at, as they broke up a peaceful rally. But if they thought we can be intimidated then they don’t know the doughty Ekiti with a checkered history of confronting, and defeating foreign invaders. Fortunately, the governor showed that minion something of the Ekiti make-up on that day. The foreign legion was, appropriately, led by an  Ijaw police officer, one Gabriel  Selenkere,  the state MOPOL Commander,  who  was alleged to have served as Jonathan’s ADC when he was Deputy Governor in Bayelsa.  Apparently, the man  who most probably  does  not take orders from the state  Police Commissioner  had  impudently told the latter when confronted by him: who? Which governor? I know no governor when the Vice President is still around. I have orders from above’.  If I may ask of this impertinent man,  what federal project was his Vice President waiting behind to commission in Ekiti ? That, incidentally,  is what Nigeria has been turned to by these  cretins.

    But all  that is only the opening glee as there are worse lined up for election day in the state. As it happened in 2003 when a substantial part of Fayose’s votes  were allegedly  ferried in to Ekiti from  the amala empire in Ibadan; the reason Baba chose whatever contract in Ekiti suited him,  they intend to have police men and thugs escort stuffed ballot boxes into  the state on 21 June. Thugs are also primed to disrupt vote counting in APC strongholds. They will be under orders to  shoot into the air but if unsuccessful, to shoot directly at the people. They have  equally  recruited some mid level  rogue elements  within INEC who will ensure that voting materials are either not supplied at all, or brought in very late to polling centres where they  suspect the  APC candidate will win.

    The most sinister of this criminal gang’s plan which is already ongoing in all Yoruba states, however, is the devilish process of political recruitment to which former governor Segun Oni referred during the APC Mega Rally in Ado-Ekiti. Having been used to maximum effect in a particular Southwest state where millions were turned to literal political slaves ahead the 2011 general elections, it is now being extended into all the other states and as I write this, I have a copy of their  membership application form  which  the Lagos PDP is already distributing. I am reliably informed  Fayose is doing the same thing in Ekiti already. The phony empowerment organisation coyly  attracts recruits with promises of jobs and credits but the two most important  questions on the application form are: the applicants’ Voters card number, for purposes of  cloning ahead the 2015 elections, and his/her mother’s name, for ritual purposes.

    The initiation process, so beguilingly simple is extremely dangerous going by what a nearly entrapped woman confessed. According to her, she was ferried, with others in a luxury bus  to a certain town  ostensibly for empowerment.  Getting there, they were asked to fill a form in which it was compulsory for them to supply their mothers’ names and voter’s card number. Suspecting foul play she gave wrong names for both herself and her mother. Then  into an inner room where a Moslem cleric was waiting to administer oaths of allegiance. After this came a herbalist  for another oath.  From there  they were herded  to another town in the state  to swear to two powerful Yoruba Deities one of which is reputed to suck the  blood of those who backslide. Then comes the dark large space inside the building where they all stood on blood as a man in white emerged with a gourd of water for the final oath-taking. She said she pretended like drinking the water but did not.  Engr Oni has warned against going to seek help from people who will make you swear to oaths, naked in a coffin and  thereby succeed in making you their slave for life. Awo, the Avatar, must be squirming in his grave.

    If care is not taken, these questionable characters will turn most of  the youth in  Yoruba land to political zombies who they will use as bargaining chips for their political harlotry , especially in 2015 and even beyond.

    Obviously, they have, in their giddiness, forgotten that  there is God.  As a result, they cannot remember how God miraculously took Israelites out of Egypt or, nearer home, how God saved  the likes of  General Oladipo Diya  from certain death in Abacha’s gulag.  As the Lord liveth,  they will fall victims of their  own diabolical plans as Ekiti will never return to Egypt nor will it ever again be ruled by crooks. Ekiti, the land of honour and distinction requires  not ragamuffins but a  visionary leadership.  Vote Fayose and turn this distinctively unique state into a plaything for not only President Jonathan and his Niger Delta boys but also the likes of Buruji Kashamu and Bode George.

    God forbid.

    We must all therefore refuse to be intimidated  come  21 June 2014 whatever the enemy’s armada. For them, nothing is sacred or sacrosanct. They will therefore descend on us  in all their fury, believing we will vote with our legs. But as Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu never ceases to say, power is never served ala carte. We must stand our ground and shame these vampires. We must vote John Kayode Fayemi overwhelmingly to  victory.

  • Supreme Court set wrong precedent in acquitting Bode George

    Supreme Court set wrong precedent in acquitting Bode George

    Monday Onyekachi Ubani is the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja branch. In this interview with Adebisi Onanuga,  Ubani speaks on the Supreme Court judgment, which cleared former Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) chairman, Bode George of fraud, the letters between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan, among others.

    How do you see the judiciary in 2013? Do you think the sector it performed well and met the expectations of the common man?

    The judiciary did not fare well in the fight against corruption starting with the notorious pension case, lingering politically exposed cases, fuel scam cases that have not recorded any appreciable progress and ending with Bode George matter that witnessed acquittal at the Supreme Court. All these cases earned a thumbs down for the judiciary in 2013. However, in matters of terrorism, the judiciary at the lower cadre showed sense of urgency and thoroughness in handling some of these cases. Many of these cases were concluded within a record time.  It is thumbs up for the judiciary in that regard. It is hoped that these convictions will not be upturned at the appellate courts by employing technicalities that have not

    What changes would like to see in the judiciary in the new year?

    My expectations for the judiciary in 2014 is a judiciary that is justice driven, with complete independence operationally and financially. We need our cases both at the criminal and civil jurisdictions to be handled expeditiously and satisfy the yearnings of litigants for justice. The law must at all times be applied equally to both the poor and rich man. Our judiciary must be properly infrastructured with modern facilities that will ensure that best international standards are followed in the dispensation of justice at every sphere of the judiciary. Appointment of judges must be based on merit, while disciplining of judges by NJC and lawyers by the Bar Association must be intensified. By and large, we desire a very independent and strong judiciary that will navigate the judicial ship of the country from destruction and ominous danger that are lurking around the country as we prepare for the national conference and possible election in 2015 that may determine the destiny and direction of this country. Welcome to 2014.

    What is your view on the Supreme Court judgment exonerating former chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority  (NPA), Bode George of the charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)?

    We are totally shocked, even as legal practitioners, because the basis of the judgment is not too clear. I read what Femi Falana wrote in his press statement, giving credence to the fact that Bode George and his co-accused were charged with abuse of office and disobedience to lawful order and not for contract splitting. So, if the Supreme Court based its judgment on contract splitting, then something is fundamentally wrong with that judgment. It leaves a sore taste in the mouth of bewildered Nigerians as to what really happens. Why such a turnaround and ending the year on such a sour note for the judiciary? We remember how the incumbent CJN punished Justice Talba for giving a slap on the wrist to a man who confessed to stealing billions of pension fund. So, for the Supreme Court to turn around and do this somersault at this point in time leaves much to be desired. It leaves innocent Nigerians with doubt as to the judgments of the court which shouldn’t be. The moment doubts are left in the minds of the people as to the authenticity of the judgments of the court, even when you said such judgments are based on law, it doesn’t give a good image of the judiciary; it doesn’t do the judiciary any good.

    President Jonathan has responded to the 18-page letter written to him by former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Are you satisfied with his response? Do you think he has really addressed the salient issues raised in that letter?

    What I saw in the letter was sermon preached on the Mount of Olive. There is no real response to some of the issues that former president Obasanjo raised. On corruption, I expected a very good response like ‘this, this and that I have done and I have distanced myself from those found to be engaged in corrupt practices in my government’. That I did not see in Mr. President’s response. Rather, he was telling Nigerians about following due process. We have one that even the House of Representatives have indicted the Aviation Minister and told the president to remove her as Minister, saying from the investigation carried out by the lawmakers, the woman has abused her office. If he is a very serious-minded president who is really desirous about fighting corruption and really after seeing the economic system being free from corruption, what he should have done is to listen to the resolution of the House of Representatives who are the representatives of Nigerians.

    President Jonathan has refused to act on that particular resolution. So, what more can we say of a man who is the head of government who surrounds himself with people who are perceived by the generality of the people to be corrupt and he is doing nothing about it? Now, we are also aware about what is going on in the Central Bank where I understand the governor, Sanusi is also indicted. Up till now, the president has not said nor done anything something that is already in public domain that there were so much discrepancies in the account of the Central Bank managed by Sanusi. Yet, the president has not deemed it fit to deal with the issue. So, if you don’t have the courage to rule the Federal Republic of Nigeria because it is a very complex country, you have no business being there because it requires a lot of courage, tough actions to stem the tide of corruption which has been the bane of this country.

    Do you see the president as being capable of exonerating himself of these allegations against him?

    I didn’t see him answering the key questions raised by Obasanjo. In his response, he was only sermonising and I don’t think he has done justice to the issues raised. Even though we all know the Obasanjo that wrote the letter was as guilty of all the issues he has raised, but we are saying also that we are not looking at the messenger but at the message and we are saying that there are issues within the government that we all know are not making us really to achieve growth in governance. It has stifled our progress as a nation and we are saying that these issues must be addressed. if the president, who is in power is not addressing them and is not laying any solid foundation in addressing them, then we are not comfortable giving him another mandate. Because all they are concerned about is planning for 2015, whereas, those issues that will make Nigerians decide to give you another mandate in 2015 is not being addressed. Also, look at second term when he made promises on his honour that he will only go for a term but now he is clamouring for second term, saying it is his constitutional right. Didn’t he know it was his constitutional right when he said it in the first place? He didn’t address that in his response; rather, he was saying that he has so many jobs to do as a president and has no time to respond line by line. So, he has not addressed the key issues raised in the letter.

    The president in his response said Obasanjo should substantiate some of the allegations, especially on training of snipers and placing some Nigerians on political watch list. But some Nigerians are saying Obasanjo should be invited for questioning by the security agencies. Are you in support of this?

    If the security agencies want to do that, why not? Because I also did not see Mr. President denying that allegation specifically; he only asked Obasanjo to substantiate. He didn’t say, ‘No, I didn’t place any Nigerian on political watch list; I am not training snipers’. I expected him to deny it so that we can hold him on his words and say he never did because if tomorrow we start seeing people missing or assassinated, we can say, ‘no, the president is not responsible because he has denied the allegation’. But, he didn’t do that. All he did was asking the former president to substantiate those claims. So, President Jonathan did not address any of the key issues raised in those letters and neither did he deny them in a manner that is very convincing that he is not guilty of most of the allegations.

    In law, how would you describe President Jonathan’s response to former President Obasanjo’s letter?

    What President Jonathan did in law is called general traverse. When you want to put up a defence in law against a claim of a claimant, you specifically have to address them serially paragraph by paragraph. If you do general traverse, it does not amount to denial. So, what you do is to specifically deal with the issues, give a satisfactory explanation as to what has happened so that if the judge is reading your traverse, he looks at it and issues are joined. The judge can then takes evidence and evaluate who is lying and who is telling the truth. But when you make a general traverse like asking the claimant to substantiate his claim, I really don’t think that has addressed the issue. So, it leaves so many things in doubt as to who is lying and who is telling the truth especially in the light of the fact that these allegations are very weighty and coming from a former president and founding father of PDP, the same party as the president. One would have expected a serious treatment of the allegations that were raised and not the response we got from the presidency.

    Let us look at the defection of some governors and some lawmakers from the ruling PDP to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) which has made the APC the party with the majority in the House of Reps. Do you see this development changing the political dynamics of the country in the days ahead?

    I am not looking at the change or dynamics you talked about in terms of impeaching the president or creating confusion. Nigerians are expecting a change; they are expecting an alternative platform in order to probably get the desired change they are all looking for. As to whether this new realignment will provide that change and then satisfy the yearnings of Nigerians is a different ball game. Because the people who have joined the APC are from PDP and they were the ones running the PDP, a party that has denied Nigerians the dividends of democracy for more than 14 years.

    So, what has actually happened that these ones are being wooed into the party of the so-called progressives? Have they become born again? These are issues we need to consider. But let me tell you this: it also takes the same class to destroy the class that has been in power. If you look at the history of humanity from the Biblical point of view, from the political point of view, you will see that it is always the same class that arise and destroy the class that is keeping the people under oppression. If you take into cognizance what happened during slavery, it is still the same white people who are into slavery that arise and said slavery is inhuman and must stop all this. It wasn’t the blacks that were taken into captivity that stopped slavery, it was the same white and before you know it, the matter was brought before the parliament, and laws were passed banning slave trade. Now, if you remember also what happened in South Africa during the apartheid era, it was also the same class that was in power that came out and said ‘no, we can’t continue this. The international opprobrium against us is becoming too much by the day and we are no longer finding it possible to hold tenaciously to our belief in racism’. And so, Mandela was released. So, I am saying we may need to look at what is happening in Nigeria from a spiritual angle. God may be rearranging this political situation in the country for the benefit of the oppressed. We have been under oppression for many years. We have not enjoyed democracy despite being under a democratic dispensation for 14 years.

    So, it is the same political class that has brought this untold hardship on Nigerians that has risen to say let us call ourselves to order and re-engineer this country and change it for better. That may be what is happening in the spiritual angle and we are seeing it manifesting. So, that is why I am not dismissing it entirely.

    Looking at the antecedent of those who are defecting to APC, do you think they can bring any change to the political system?

    It may be that the time has come for us to have a better platform because what will emerge at the end of the day are two strong political parties that will keep everyone that is power on toes because where one political party remains the majority and there is no threat, there is every basis for impunity in the system. But when all of a sudden, you are seeing a House of Reps that has APC in the majority and a threat even in the Senate, then something is speaking. So, it may be for the progress of the nation that Nigerians will have a platform of choice. So, we should not dismiss it, that nothing will come out of it. It may be that God is engineering something for the benefit of this country so that it can be liberated.

     

  • ‘How Supreme Court wrongly freed Bode George’

    ‘How Supreme Court wrongly freed Bode George’

    Lagos lawyer and activist Femi Falana (SAN) criticises the Supreme Court judgment which quashed the conviction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Bode George.

    In criticising the lack of commitment of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration to the anti-corruption crusade

    commentators have often failed to pay sufficient attention to the penchant of Nigerian courts to dismiss corruption cases on the altar of technicalities. It is on record that many corruption cases filed against members of the ruling class by the anti-graft agencies have been dismissed in the last few weeks on flimsy grounds. On the contrary, the courts have had no difficulty in convicting petty criminals and sentencing them to long terms of imprisonment for stealing telephone handsets, bush meat, tubers of yam etc on account of poverty. In reviewing the anti-corruption war, therefore, the class character of the nation’s neo-colonial legal system should always be taken into consideration.

    Last month, the case involving the missing hundreds of millions of naira from the Universal Basic Education Fund was struck out by the Federal High Court. A fortnight ago, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal struck out the criminal case filed against some bank chiefs by the EFCC on the ground that the Lagos State High Court lacks the jurisdiction to try them for allegedly stealing billions of Naira through the manipulation of the capital market. On December 13, 2013, the Federal Capital Territory High Court struck out the charge of stealing government land and allocating same to his wife and other family members filed against Mr. Nasir El-Rufai when it upheld his no case submission while the Supreme Court discharged and acquitted Chief Olabode George and other former members of the Nigeria Ports Authority on the ground that the offence of contract splitting was unknown to law at the material time.

    This review is limited to the case of Chief Olabode George & co. for two reasons. Firstly, the EFCC has decided to appeal against the judgments, which freed the other accused persons. Secondly, the verdict of the Supreme Court has serious implications for the nation’s criminal law jurisprudence. More so, that the finding of the apex court that the appellants were tried and convicted for contract splitting is not borne out of the records of both the trial court and the Court of Appeal. In other words, the Lagos High Court had convicted them of the offences of abuse of powers and disobedience to lawful order contrary to sections 104 and 203 of the Lagos State Criminal Code. However, while congratulating the appellants on removing the stigma of infamy from their names it cannot be denied that the outcome of the case is a major setback for the anti corruption crusade.

     

    The right to criticise court judgments

    Before one is accused of committing contempt of court for commenting on the controversial judgment, it is pertinent to point out that the right to criticise the judgments of courts is part of the fundamental right of every citizen to freedom of expression guaranteed by section 39 of the Constitution. Accordingly, the Supreme Court has always welcomed a constructive criticism of its decisions having regards to their finality and overall impact on the nation’s legal system. In Adegoke Motors v Adesanya (1989) 3 N.W.L.R. (Pt 109) 250 at 274-275, the reverred Chukwudifu Oputa J.S.C alluded to the finality of the decisions of the Supreme Court when he said that “we are final not because we are infallible, rather we are infallible because we are final. Justices of this Court are human beings capable of erring. It will be shortsighted arrogance not to accept this obvious truth”.

    In the same vein, the late Justice Kayode Eso said in the case of Adigun v Governor of Oyo State (No 2) 2 N.W.R (Pt 56) 197 at 214-215 that “the decision of the Supreme Court is final. Final in the sense of real finality in so far as the particular case before it is concerned. It is final forever, except there is legislation to the contrary, and it has to be a legislation ad hominem”. In recognition of the enormous powers of the apex court Justice Eso was of the view that “It is such dread powers that must necessitate great care in the calibre of the Court and such dread that must necessitate pungent and constructive analytical criticism of every judgment of the Court in the law journals and similar fora”. In reaction to the view of some judges and lawyers that it is contemptuous to subject decisions of courts to criticism Justice Eso stated that “the judgment of a court should not be treated with sacred sanctity, once it gets to the right critical forum”.

     

    Where the supreme court erred in law

    In the case of Chief Bode George & co. the appellants were tried, convicted and sentenced to various prison terms by the Lagos High Court on October 26, 2009 for abuse of powers and disobedience of lawful orders. Completely displeased with the verdict, the appellants challenged it on appeal. In its considered judgment delivered on January 21, 2011, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the learned trial judge, Olubunmi Oyewole J. Still dissatisfied the appellants further appealed to the Supreme Court. In its judgment handed down a fortnight ago the Supreme Court set aside the concurrent findings of both the Lagos High Court and the Court of Appeal with respect to the conviction of the appellants.

    In discharging and acquitting them the apex court held that the offence of contract splitting was unknown to law at the time the appellants were tried and convicted by the Lagos High Court. In his leading judgment the Honourable Justice John Afolabi Fabiyi held inter alia: “It occurred to me that Section 203 of the Criminal Code is not in tune with the dictate of Section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution. That being the position, the charges filed under section 203 of the said Code ostensibly for splitting contract in disobedience of lawful order by constituted authority cannot stand … I say it with utmost confidence that the same position applies to the provision of Section 104 of the said Criminal Code. Acts said to have constituted arbitrary acts resulting in abuse of office are splitting of contracts which were not offences known to law at the material time.”

    It is submitted, without any fear of contradiction, that the appellants were not charged for contract splitting by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission but for “abuse of powers” and “disobedience of lawful order” contrary to sections 104 and 203 of the Criminal Code of Lagos State respectively. In summarising the unassailable judgment of the learned trial judge, Clara Ogunbiyi JCA (as she then was) had, in her lead judgment, said the appellants were arraigned “on 68 counts of offences bordering on inflation of contracts, conspiracy to disobey lawful orders and abuse of office …”

    Since both sections 104 and 203 have been part of the Criminal Code as far back as 1914 it is unbelievable that the Supreme Court held that the appellants were charged under an unknown law. The crime of disobedience to lawful order by splitting contracts was not unknown before the enactment of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. In the instant case, contract splitting was a particular of the offence and not the offence alleged against the appellants. But for some inexplicable reasons, the apex court substituted the particular for the offence and arrived at a wrong conclusion. Curiously, the Supreme Court conveniently ignored the finding of the Court of Appeal that the appellants violated sections 104 and 203 of the Criminal Code when they awarded contracts beyond their approval limits which was “borne out by evidence from all the witnesses on both sides”.

    Although it has been established in a plethora of cases decided by the Supreme Court that an appellate court has no power to disturb the finding of a lower court which is not challenged on appeal. But for reasons best known to the apex court it decided to depart from the settled principle of law in discharging and acquitting the appellants. From the record of appeal it is indisputable that the Court of Appeal had unanimously agreed with the prosecution that the intention to defraud the nation was proved beyond reasonable doubt by the conduct of the appellants who consistently approved contracts of several billions of naira beyond their approval limit. There was not a single ground of appeal that attacked that particular crucial finding of the lower court. Yet the Supreme Court decided, albeit illegally, to tamper with the finding of the court below and proceeded to hold that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the appellants.

    The most embarrassing aspect of the judgment was that the Supreme Court annulled two provisions of the Criminal Code of Lagos without hearing from the Attorney-General of Lagos State in line with established practice. With profound respect to their Lordships there is no legal justification whatsoever for declaring sections 104 and 203 of the Criminal Code illegal and unconstitutional. No doubt, the attention of the apex court was not drawn to the undeniable fact that Section 104 of the Criminal Code is in pari materia with Section 9 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers set out in Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution which has created the offence of abuse of power. Therefore, Section 104 of the Criminal Code cannot be said to be unconstitutional since the same Constitution has created the offence of “abuse of powers”.

     

    Conclusion

    As the verdict of the apex court was based on wrong legal foundation its validity remains questionable. Although the appellants have been exculpated, it is hoped that the Supreme Court will soon have another opportunity to reverse the highly erroneous judgment so as to restore sections 104 and 203 of the Lagos State Criminal Code which were struck down for no justifiable legal reasons. However, the case of Chief Bode George & co. should not be treated in isolation as it is now the trend to strike out or dismiss charges filed against members of the bourgeoisie. To that extent, decision of the Supreme Court should be seen as an audacious expression of class solidarity.

    Perhaps, majority of Nigerians are not aware of the fact that out of the over 400 convictions which the EFCC has secured in the 10 years of its existence, only four members of the political class have been successfully prosecuted through dubious plea bargain deals. In the circumstance, instead of wasting the meagre resources allocated to the anti-graft agencies on securing convictions which are going to be set aside in favour of members of the ruling class it is high time the Federal Government stopped charging politically exposed persons and other influential criminal suspects to court. In the atmosphere of impunity in the land judges should equally stop the immoral practice of railroading petty criminals to jail.

     

  • Comments

    Comments

    For Dare Olatunji

    There can be false and crooked ways to achieve right goals. The virtue of prudence implies that both the end of human action and the means for its realization be in keeping with the truth of things. The lesson in “Redeeming Bode George” is that what was immorality a decade ago may not be immorality today. But is truth still constant? From Adegoke O O, Ikhin, Edo State.

    So confused and frustated is OBJ after instigating the so-called rebel G-7 governors on the futile bid to destablise PDP. He failed woefully and thousands of OBJ can’t stop GEJ’s second term bid; let it be drummed into the ears of OBJ. From Eugene, Enugu.

    Great piece. A damning CIA Report was responsible for the treason trial that sent Mandela to life imprisonment in the first place. Anonymous

    Re-The Mandela files-2. Mandela in America. Despite accusations against late Mandela, he remained and remains a hero worldwide. Which freedom did anyone or a community win with peace? Blood had always been let! Even the slavery of triangular era from Africa to India to Europe and America. Did they not shed our forefathers’ blood? MANDELA lives forever for South African Blacks. May his soul rest in peace, Amen. From Lanre Oseni.

    Dare, the issue of Mandela being member of a communist club at the time he was fighting for independence of South Africa might be true though your piece confirmed Madiba denied it a few times he was asked about membership of the group. A look back at those times reveals two contending international political groups, the Democrats predominantly Western world in membership, and the Communists led by Russia. Since Apatheid in South Africa was a British colonial weapon of suppression, backed majorly by Western countries, some freedom fighters like Mandela might be tempted to join the communist club, the opposition to Western political group, to shore up support for their struggle; a likely human tendency in such a circumstance. But if Mandela denied being a member of such a body, then his word should be taken for it, with suspicion from a few doubting Thomases, based on his clout. From LAI ASHADELE.

     

    For Segun Gbadegesin

    Naturally, character moulding should start from the family but the family lives in a community or society. In a badly divided society, given the gap between the rich and the poor, we cannot run away from the fact that prudence in the Machiavellian sense is what appeals to the average man. How do we harmonize the internal sense of what is good and bad with some of the external factors that make survival the basic law everywhere? If the society is unjust, can the individual be just? The dillemma is that you cannot change society if you don’t change man. From Adegoke O O, Ikhin, Edo State.

    There isn’t anything special in the OBJ’s letter. Its simply vintage Obasanjo. During his regime, a minister could even sell the whole nation with Obasanjo lookin the other way so long such minister continued to do his bidding. But disagree with him, then you can be sure he would send EFCC to you as though he never knew you were corrupt. Then the undiscerning Nigerians would hail him for fighting coruption, whereas he knew exactly what he was doing. To me, the remark Jonathan made in praise of Mandela together with his refusal to be dictated to by OBJ are the two major reasons for that letter. Such letter, we know, couldn’t have been written in the first place, had Jonathan allowed him to continue ruling the country by proxy, even if his administration was to be worse than what it is presently.That’s the angle we should look at the Obasanjo’s letter to understand exactly where he is actualy coming from, the weighty content of the letter notwithstanding. From Emmanuel Egwu

     

    For Gbenga Omotoso

    It is good that Obasanjo made the letter public himself. Is he not the man that foisted on Nigerians the lethargic Yar’Adua and Jonathan through a sham election? Do not expect an illegal government to tackle corruption, provide light, fight unemployment, guarantee security, ensure infrastructural development. Now Obasanjo wants to bring either Lamido or Babangida Aliyu in 2015 and that is why these two have not defected to APC. More troubles ahead for PDP as Obasanjo is now set to enlist more foot soldiers against a corrupt, rudderless and visionless government of Jonathan who has refused to do his bidding. From Samuel B/C

    Why are you people from some section of the country writing against Jonathan? Is it because he is not the member of APC? Please I want you to write about the leaders of APC because they too have their own shortcomings. Your views may not be the views of Nigeria. Anonymous

    There are two leaders worthy of immitating in Nigeria for their honesty, transparency and concern. President Obasanjo and Govenor Muazu Babangida Aliyu. The ball has been set rolling; it is left for our president, emirs and the National Assembly to take action before the wind of change catch up with us……From Mallam. S. Doma.

    Obasanjo vs Jonathan: Obasanjo should leave Jonathan alone. If he can’t advise him, he should stop heating the polity. During his tenure, has he forgotten what he did in Odi, in Bayelsa and in other places? We are celebrating Mandela today. Mandela had the chance to do more than two tenures, but did one and said ‘No‘ to tenure elongation. He should keep quiet if he can’t give useful advice to him. Akeju Emmanuel, Benin-city.

    For Tunji Adegboyega

    Re: Nigeria’s many managers. It is not all the time that ASUU is right in its obduracy. The manner it was going, it might overtake our NLC. Why? The government respects the teachers too much. And respect should beget respect. There was no way N1.6trn could be dropped at a go as ASUU wanted initially. ASUU wanted to be paid the five months of ‘workless’ period! And is that what the students are being taught; that they could be paid without working? To me, if they are eventually paid such, it is fraud! My economics mentioned productivity and not redundancy. I suggested to a professor friend, ‘Go on phased payments, which resolved the hitch eventually. In a deadlock like that, what did our traditional rulers do? And past heads of state, in concrete terms? However, all said and done, two of the arms of government – legislature and the executive- need to cut sizeably their pay and expenses borne by the government. If done, there is enough to fund our tertiary institutions. From Lanre Oseni.

    May God replenish you for nourishing my soul over the year with your insightful and intellectual articles. Thank you so much , Tunji. From Dennis Tuedor, Ughelli, Delta State.

    I agree with you that many people are not asking for their right. The problem is that the oppressed lack class consciousness in a class society. That is why they have decided to wait for divine intervention. Yes, it is another name for fatalism. From Amos Ejimonye, Kaduna.

    In regard to columns 1 and 3 of your ‘Nigeria’s many managers’, may I note that your in-house man, Wordsworth, says the phrase Is simply ‘white elephant(s) and the dictionary says so. And you may also wish to confirm the difference between bother and border (on). Anonymous

    Chief Wike was behind the prolonged ASUU strike because he left his responsibility as supervising minister of education to join issues with Governor Amaechi over his (Wike’s) governorship ambition when he should be thinking of solution to the ASUU strike. President Jonathan should fire Wike now to save the education sector as well as allow him concentrate on his ambition. No one should take Nigerians for granted. From Gordon Chika Nnorom.

  • Redeeming Bode George

    Redeeming Bode George

    Congratulations to Chief Bode George, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bigwig and jailed former Chairman, Board of Directors of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who has apparently succeeded in shedding the stigma of prison following a Supreme Court verdict quashing his 2009 conviction and 30 months imprisonment by Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja. It must be joy unspeakable for him, considering the snide remarks he most likely had to cope with on account of his prison history, especially in the dirty game of politics. Now he can do a swagger in public without restraint or embarrassment. He can proudly reject the tag, “ex-convict”.

    With him on the soul train are five former members of the board, Aminu Dabo, an architect, Captain Oluwasegun Abidoye, Alhaji Abdulahi Aminu Tafida, Alhaji Zanna Maidaribe and Sule Aliyu, an engineer, who were also discharged and acquitted.

    George and four others were arraigned in 2008 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 163-count charge of conspiracy, disobedience to lawful order, abuse of office and alleged illegal award of contracts worth N84 billion while he was NPA chairman between 2001 and 2003. During the trial, the EFCC reduced the charge to 63 counts, and the judge found the defendants guilty on 47counts. Specifically, they were found guilty of exceeding the limit for award of contracts, splitting contracts in order to bring them within the limit, and inflating contracts. In other words, they were sanctioned for official corruption, that monstrosity which many observers have identified as the bane of the country. It is noteworthy that as prison inmates, George and his colleagues enjoyed the V.I.P. section, were excused from wearing prison uniforms, and had access to meals prepared by their families, which smacked of corruption.

    Even more remarkable, and reflective of corruption of another kind, was the lavish celebration that greeted his 2011 release from Kirikiri Prison, Lagos, which was nauseating to the public. George, 68, claimed that his trial and imprisonment were consequences of a conspiracy by his enemies. With his clearance by the Supreme Court, it is predictable that the flamboyant retired naval officer would arrange a church thanksgiving service and throw a party, all to make a statement.

    It is interesting that they took their battle for redemption as far as the Supreme Court, suggesting that they were convinced about the supposed injustice of their conviction and sentencing. Well, they could afford the services of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), Kanu Agabi and Joseph Daudu, and they obviously couldn’t live with the shameful stain, given their social standing. Just a thought: What if the apex court had affirmed the correctness of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which had endorsed the initial High Court ruling? What a horrible thought!

    It may well be that by overturning their conviction and imprisonment, the Supreme Court, perhaps inadvertently, not only saved them from deadly depression but also prevented their descent into suicidal psychosis. It is even possible that the latest ruling will energise them beyond their years.

    However, there is ironically something to be sad about. Central to the exculpatory judgement were the arguments that the prosecution failed to establish the guilt of the appellants and that contract splitting was not unlawful at the time of the alleged offence. In the words of the court: “Contract splitting, which formed the basis of the offences charged, was unknown to law at the material time. The Public Procurement Act, which made contract splitting an offence punishable with term of imprisonment, was enacted into law by the National Assembly in 2007, long after the appellants had ceased to be members of the NPA.”

    George and others were probably ahead of society’s consciousness of the infinite possibilities of contract award.